Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons ("Four Seasons Manor", a.k.a. Le Manoir) is a luxury hotel-restaurant in the village of

Great Milton Great Milton is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Oxfordshire, about east of Oxford. The United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 1,042. The School Great Milton church of England primar ...

near

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, in

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

, England. It is in a historic 15th-century

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...

, near a church that was visited by

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three Ki ...

, In March 2014 the company owning the restaurant introduced a new brand name, Belmond. At this point the hotel changed its name to Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons. In December 2018 Belmond was acquired by

LVMH LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (), commonly known as LVMH, is a French holding multinational corporation and conglomerate specializing in luxury goods, headquartered in Paris. The company was formed in 1987 through the merger of fashion house ...

Description

The restaurant has two

Michelin star The Michelin Guides ( ) are a series of guide books that have been published by the French tyre company Michelin since 1900. The Guide awards up to three Michelin stars for excellence to a select few establishments. The acquisition or loss of a ...

s, as well as scoring 9/10 in the ''

Good Food Guide ''The Good Food Guide'' has been reviewing the best restaurants, pubs and cafés in Great Britain since 1951. In October 2021, Adam Hyman purchased ''The Good Food Guide'' for an undisclosed sum from Waitrose & Partners. The ''Guide'' is being r ...

'' It is capable of serving 260 guests per day It is owned by LVMH (since acquiring Belmond Ltd in December 2018) and run by the leading French chef

Raymond Blanc Raymond Blanc OBE (born 19 November 1949) is a French chef. Blanc is the chef patron at Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons, a hotel-restaurant in Great Milton, Oxfordshire, England. The restaurant has two Michelin stars and scored 9/10 in the ''Good Fo ...

. The gardens are used to grow fresh food for the restaurant. A

helipad A helipad is a landing area or platform for helicopters and powered lift aircraft. While helicopters and powered lift aircraft are able to operate on a variety of relatively flat surfaces, a fabricated helipad provides a clearly marked hard s ...

is available for clients. The restaurant was used as filming location in the

BBC 2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

television programme '' The Restaurant'', where it has been used for challenges as well as Raymond Blanc's "room of truth". The restaurant kitchen has trained 34 Michelin starred chefs so far, with its basic training programs for its chefs lasting approximately 2.5 years. Each chef spending 6 months on each "section" in the kitchen. Chefs who stay longer than the initial 2.5 years of training then go on to learn the management side of the business.

Chefs trained at Le Manoir

Many notable chefs and restaurateurs were mentored by or worked for Raymond Blanc at Le Manoir, including: *

John Burton-Race John William Burton-Race (born 1 May 1957) is a British Michelin starred chef, television personality and celebrity chef, made famous by the Channel 4 series ''French Leave'' and its sequel ''Return of the Chef'' and '' I'm a Celebrity...Get Me O ...

Heston Blumenthal Heston Marc Blumenthal (; born 27 May 1966) is a British celebrity chef, TV personality and food writer. Blumenthal is regarded as a pioneer of multi-sensory cooking, food pairing and flavour encapsulation. He came to public attention with un ...

Michael Caines Michael Andrew Caines (born 3 January 1969) is an English chef born in Exeter, Devon. He was head chef of Gidleigh Park in Devon until January 2016. He is currently the executive chef of the Lympstone Manor hotel between Exeter and Exmo ...

Elisha Carter Elisha Carter (born 6 October 1969) is a British chef who appeared in the BBC television series Great British Menu in 2008. He is Head Chef at ''The Landau'' restaurant located in The Langham, London. Biography Carter was born in North London, ...

Éric Chavot Éric Chavot (born 1967) is a French Michelin starred chef. He was working the head chef at the Bob Bob Cité and Bob Bob Ricard restaurants in London until January 2020, as well as the consultant chef at the Royal Albert Hall's Coda restaurant. ...

William Curley William Curley (born 29 October 1971) is a Scottish patissier and chocolatier. Curley is the owner of the London chocolate company William Curley Ltd., and has won the Academy of Chocolate's 'Britain's Best Chocolatier' Award four times. In 2 ...

* JJ Goodman *

David Goodridge David Goodridge, is the Chef de Cuisine of the venerable Gaddi's restaurant at the Peninsula Hong Kong hotel. Biography Goodridge joined Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons, a two-Michelin-starred restaurant in Oxfordshire, England, owned by one of the ...

Paul Heathcote Paul Heathcote MBE is a chef, restaurateur and food consultant who spent two years under the guidance of Raymond Blanc at Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons. He has appeared on many UK food television shows. Paul is one of only two chefs in the North W ...

Paul Liebrandt Paul Liebrandt is a chef and restaurateur. He was the co-owner of Corton restaurant in New York City and the subject of the documentary film, ''A Matter of Taste: Serving Up Paul Liebrandt''. Liebrandt is known for his daring cuisine, creativit ...

* David Moore *

Marco Pierre White Marco Pierre White (born 11 December 1961) is a British chef, restaurateur, and television personality. He has been dubbed "the first celebrity chef" and the ''enfant terrible'' of the UK restaurant scene. In January 1995, aged 33, White became ...

* James Knight-Pacheco

Reception

Restaurant critic

Jay Rayner Jason Matthew Rayner (born 14 September 1966) is an English journalist and food critic. Early life Jason Matthew Rayner was born on 14 September 1966. He is the younger son of Desmond Rayner and journalist Claire Rayner. His family is Jewish. He ...

visited Le Manoir for the first time in 2013. Whilst he described it as possibly the most expensive restaurant in Britain, he praised the set up including the kitchen garden. Regarding the food, he praised a "pitch-perfect"

beetroot The beetroot is the taproot portion of a beet plant, usually known in North America as beets while the vegetable is referred to as beetroot in British English, and also known as the table beet, garden beet, red beet, dinner beet or golden beet ...

terrine Terrine may refer to: * Terrine (cookware), a vessel for cooking a forcemeat loaf * Terrine (food), a forcemeat similar to pâté {{Disambiguation ...

, which was served with a

horseradish Horseradish (''Armoracia rusticana'', syn. ''Cochlearia armoracia'') is a perennial plant of the family Brassicaceae (which also includes mustard, wasabi, broccoli, cabbage, and radish). It is a root vegetable, cultivated and used worldwide ...

sorbet Sorbet (), also called "water ice", is a frozen dessert made using ice combined with fruit juice, fruit purée, wine, liqueur, honey, etc. Generally sorbets do not contain dairy ingredients, while sherbets do. Etymology The word "sorbet" e ...

quenelle __NOTOC__ A quenelle () is a mixture of creamed fish or meat, sometimes combined with breadcrumbs, with a light egg binding, formed into an egg-like shape, and then cooked. The usual preparation is by poaching. Formerly, quenelles were often us ...

. He wondered at the skill involved in creating a dessert of poached

meringue Meringue (, ; ) is a type of dessert or candy, often associated with Swiss, French, Polish and Italian cuisines, traditionally made from whipped egg whites and sugar, and occasionally an acidic ingredient such as lemon, vinegar, or cream of ...

and fried

apricots An apricot (, ) is a fruit, or the tree that bears the fruit, of several species in the genus ''Prunus''. Usually, an apricot is from the species '' P. armeniaca'', but the fruits of the other species in ''Prunus'' sect. ''Armeniaca'' are also ...

inside a globe of

nougatine Brittle is a type of confection consisting of flat broken pieces of hard sugar candy embedded with nuts such as pecans, almonds, or peanuts, and which are usually less than 1 cm thick. Types It has many variations around the world, such as '' ...

. He said that while he couldn't justify or excuse the expense, the meal was fabulous.

Public transport

Since June 2022, Le Manoir has subsidised a bus service between Great Milton and central Oxford.

Oxford Bus Company Oxford Bus Company is the trading name of The City of Oxford Motor Services Ltd. Company Number 91106 It is a bus operator serving the city and surrounding area of Oxford, England. It is a subsidiary of the Go-Ahead Group. History Horse trams ...

route 46 links the village with central Oxford via

Wheatley Wheatley may refer to: Places * Wheatley (crater), on Venus * Wheatley, Ontario, Canada * Wheatley, Hampshire, England * Wheatley, Oxfordshire, England ** Wheatley railway station * Wheatley, South Yorkshire, England * Wheatley, now Ben Rhydding, ...

Horspath Horspath is a village and civil parish in South Oxfordshire about east of the centre of Oxford, England. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 1,378. Archaeology The parish's western boundary largely follows the course of a Rom ...

and Cowley. Buses run hourly, seven days a week, from early morning until after midnight.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Manoir aux Quat' Saisons 1984 establishments in England Hotels in Oxfordshire Belmond hotels Restaurants in Oxfordshire Michelin Guide starred restaurants in the United Kingdom Culture in Oxfordshire French restaurants in the United Kingdom